African American History Month Heroes – Public Safety, Public Policy and Legal Studies

Tarpon Springs Campus students created a display of heroes who are not often listed during the celebration of African American History Month. The display will be in the Library/Learning Center in the campus’ FA building through the end of February.

This blog post was written by Katherine Deschamps, one of the students who helped create the Tarpon Springs Campus display of African American History Month heroes. Ethan Hart, Associate Director of Learning Resources at the Tarpon Springs Campus, worked with students to develop this project.

William H. Hastie

William H. Hastie

William H. Hastie was appointed judge of the Federal District Court in the Virgin Islands, and later governor, becoming the nation’s first African American federal judge and governor to hold that post in a US territory.

Bass Reeves

Bass Reeves

Bass Reeves served as a Deputy United States Marshal under the jurisdiction of Judge Isaac Parker. During his 32 years of service, Reeves brought in more than 3,000 outlaws.

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama was the first African American to assume the presidency of the United States. Between 1997 and 2007, he also served in the Illinois State Senate and the United States Senate.

Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall

Last, but not least is Thurgood Marshall who was an American lawyer that won the Brown v. Board of Education case, that in turn ended racial segregation in public schools. In 1967, Marshall became the first African American to be appointed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.